Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, on Saturday, February 17, 2024, said the State government would grant life-time recognition to minority educational institutions in Tamil Nadu.
Addressing a meeting of the Tamil Nadu Minorities Welfare Board, he said this had been a long-pending demand of minority institutions, and the State government had brought out an order on February 2, 2024, for the issuing of permanent minority status certificates to all minority educational institutions. These certificates would not have any fixed time limits.
Mr. Stalin said the Minorities Welfare Minister had already launched a web portal by the T.N. e-Governance Agency (TNeGA) to simplify the procedure for the issuing of minority status certificates to educational institutions run by minorities.
The Chief Minister, who also made a slew of other announcements for the welfare of minorities, said the government was taking steps to issue a standard operating procedure (SOP) to remove difficulties in getting permission for the repair and renovation of places of worship of minorities.
In the appointment of teachers, the Chief Minister said, the existing age of 53, the maximum age for appointment of teachers in the general category and 58 for other communities in government schools, would also be extended to minority educational institutions.
“The government will soon give recognition, from universities, to teachers recruited by minority colleges as per the University Grants Commission and government rules. The government will also issue orders for the extension of the Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme to students of classes 1 to 5 in government-aided minority schools in rural areas,” he added.
Recalling his announcement in the Assembly that the government would consider extending reservations to those of backward, most backward classes and de-notified communities who had converted to Islam, the Chief Minister said hereafter, co-operative banks would release educational loans of up to ₹5 lakh to students of minority communities.
Mr. Stalin said the government would soon grant permission to the Wakf Board to give its lands, on a lease for 30 years, for the purpose of promoting educational, medical and social goals. “The government will also get permission from the High Court to set up a tribunal in Madurai to deal with cases released to Wakf Board properties on the lines of the tribunal now functioning in Chennai,” he added.
The Chief Minister said he had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to resume the pre-Matric scholarship to minority students of classes 1 and 8, a scheme that the Centre discontinued in 2022-23. As Muslim students were facing financial difficulties after the termination of the scholarship, the Tamil Nadu government would implement the scheme through the Wakf Board, and it would benefit a total of 1,26, 256 students, he said.
